Celanese (Dallas, Texas / USA; www.celanese.com) has announced plans to build a compounding facility for its “Fortron” polyphenylene sulphur (PPS) compounds at the group’s integrated production complex in Nanjing / China. Phil McDivitt, vice president and general manager of the engineered materials business (formerly Ticona), said the expansion – for which capacity was not disclosed – is in response to “impressive growth” in demand in China and the broader Asian region.

Fortron Industries (Florence, Kentucky / USA), a 50:50 joint venture of Celanese and Japan’s Kureha (Tokyo; www.kureha.co.jp), produces 15,000 t/y of semi-crystalline PPS base polymer at its plant in Wilmington, North Carolina / USA, according to Plasteurope.com’s database Polyglobe (www.polyglobe.net).

Worldwide, around 115,000 t/y of capacity for PPS base polymer is already installed, and significant expansions of production in China’s Sichuan province are planned. In 2016, additional facilities are due on stream in Korea.